Night Air
by Kiakatsu
Summary: 7 years in the future, Dib and Zim are still at each other, Gaz gets memory loss, and Gir is still an adorable idiot. Really, it's not as boring as it sounds. OH! Major plot twist time, because Zim and Dib have to help each other to beat the altorons!
1. The attack

1st Chapter: Night Air - by X-KAT  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these IZ characters. (duh, and we all know who really does, don't we.)  
  
The night air was crisp and clean. Dib drew in a long breath and savored it. He had always loved the night air, it helped him think. He lay on his roof staring at the sky, wondering how such a peaceful display of glistening stars could bring such trouble. Zim. He cringed as he thought of the name. Before Zim came Dib had thought that meeting an alien would be a wonderful thing, and a frontier towards a new breed of science. Dib had been thinking of a peaceful alien, an equally curious alien who respectfully wanted to learn. Instead, Dib had received from the heavens an invader: a heartless, egotistical creature who loved nothing more then destruction. Time after time, Dib had to stop Zim, but each victory was a narrow victory. How could he stop Zim for good?  
  
"Dib, come in for bed!" Gaz called to her brother, bitterness in her voice, "Dad says you think too much about crazy things when you're up there."  
  
"All right, I'm coming." Dib responded after being jerked from his thoughts. " But I do NOT think about crazy things!"  
  
"Yeah, whatever, just get in here before I hurt you with some kind of blunt object."  
  
Just then, an explosion that sent Dib falling off the roof went off beside Gaz. Gaz flew into the air and landed beside Dib.  
  
"Gaz!" Dib gasped.  
  
She had been knocked unconscious, but was basically all right. Dib hurriedly carried Gaz into the house, and wasn't surprised when he heard that all too familiar cackle of Zim coming from outside.  
  
"Mwa! Ha! Ha! Seems as if I missed", jeered Zim while holding some kind of irken rocket launcher, "Oh well, I will just have to try again!"  
  
Dib ran outside, not wanting a rocket to go into his house and hurt Gaz more then she already was. He jumped over and into a bush just as another rocket exploded behind him. Zim walked to the bush to get a clear shot, but Dib used this to his advantage and did something Zim was obviously NOT expecting.-He jumped out towards Zim, scaring Zim and making him lower the rocket launcher.  
  
"Curse you, earth-monkey!" Zim yelled, "How dare you try to scare an irken invader! Just accept your fate and give up!"  
  
"Give up?!?" Dib yelled back while zig-zaging behind trees, "That's one more thing you have to learn Zim, us humans will never just 'give up'."  
  
I must admit that I have seen that humans aren't as pathetic as I thought they were 7 years ago when I first came to earth." Zim responded, all the while shooting random rockets at Dib. " But you still haven't given me a good reason why I shouldn't destroy your race."  
  
"Yes, and I admit you aren't as stupid as you look", Dib smirked in between gasps of breath, "But you still haven't given me a good reason why I shouldn't just kick you like a football because you are the same size that you were 7 years ago.very, VERY, short."  
  
That did it. That crossed the line. The standard soft spot of every irken.  
  
Adrenaline now filled Zim's whole body, giving his reflects and accuracy a boost. Enough of a boost anyway to land one almost directly where Dib was standing, sending him flying headfirst and landing with a thump.Right in front of Zim.- And a fuming Zim at that.  
  
"Um.I'm Sor-sorry .Zim, I.." A stuttering Dib started knowing his life was on the line.  
  
"Silence!" Yelled an almost beet-red Zim. " You will now meet the DOOM that you most readily deserve!"  
  
Zim raised the immense gun and pointed it directly at Dib's forehead. He narrowed his eyes as a sly sneer grew across his face. Dib looked down the wide barrel of the gun, and a thought hit him. He quickly grabbed an equally wide branch from a smoking nearby tree and jammed it into the gun barrel nanoseconds before the rocket could escape.  
  
BOOM!!! The explosion knocked both human and irken into the air and they both collided into trees.  
  
Dib was the first to tremble back onto his feet. He saw Zim, still unconscious, and decided it was time for Zim to pay for the pain he had caused. He walked, or rather limped since a piece of debris had shoved itself into his left ankle, over to Zim ready to finish what he had started 7 years ago. Then Zim stirred, his backpack came to life and lifted its owner up. Zim merely glanced at Dib with a mixture of hatred and pain, and his spider legs came into action and carried him quickly away.  
  
"Oww!" Dib yelped suddenly having the painful realization that his ankle was fractured and bleeding. Dib also had another realization, maybe the key plan he had been searching for all this time.Zim's little attack had given Dib an idea. 


	2. Dib's new toy

2nd Chapter: Night Air- by X-KAT  
  
The house was silent. Gaz still lay unconscious. It was the day after Zim's attempted murder of Dib, and Dib hadn't slept in more then 30 hours. He was dead tired, but he wouldn't let himself stop now. He had patched up his ankle, and didn't let it get in the way; he had more important things to do. Deep in his Dad's lab, he was working on the thing that in theory would turn the tables between him and Zim. In the favor of Dib of course.  
  
"Finally", Dib muttered, "It's finished." He turned it in his hands to admire his handiwork. Using his Dad's tools and technology he had crafted a utility backpack; it included many gadgets similar to Zim's and some of Dib's own ideas. The backpack was bigger then Zim's though, and it was colored gray, blue, and black.  
  
"It won't do me any good to try and capture zim while I'm this tired, so., so." And he fell asleep right there in the lab.  
  
*****(Meanwhile, in Zim's lab)***** "Whoo-hoo!" Screamed Gir while running through the lab, "You smell like a naked mole rat!"  
  
"A naked what?, a peeved Zim responded, "Oh never mind, all I care about is that the Dib-monkey escaped my clutches once again. But how? This was a fool proof plan, Gir and thank goodness for my invader pack or I might have NEVER woken up."  
  
"I like walnuts, 'cause they crunch like chicken!" screamed the insane SIR unit.  
  
"I can't keep failing like this Gir, or pretty soon the Dib-pig will learn enough from his mistakes to capture me. Oh well, at least I upgraded the computer's security system so I guess I feel a little better."  
  
A giant yawn escaped Zim's lips; it even stopped Gir in its tracks.  
  
"Are you trying to perfect your moose call? I told you it's like this; MAHURR!!!"  
  
"Ahh! Stop that horrible noise before my antennas break off! I wasn't practicing any moose-beast call, it just tells me I am more tired then I thought. I really should hit the hay. Remember to turn on the security system on if you see an intruder Gir. (Yawn). Good night."  
  
"But it's three in the after-" SLAM! The door broke Gir off in mid sentence.  
  
"Awww.he must have been tired after chasing all those pigs and monkeys, .I LIKE MONKEYS!"  
  
*****(6 hours later in Dib's house)***** Dib was abruptly awakened by a vase being shattered over his head.  
  
"Hey! What the-Gaz!" she got a chair ready to swing it at her brother. "Gaz, don't do that! What did I do to you?"  
  
"You know what you did. Now who are you and why did you kidnap me?" asked a slightly dazed sounding Gaz.  
  
"Kidnap?, what are you talking about?"  
  
"I .don't .know." She answered, slumping into a chair and starting to weep.  
  
"Gaz, what's wrong?" Dib said as he hurried over to his sister's side. "No, seriously, you don't get it, I didn't know anything. I woke up and had an idea who I was or where I was".  
  
"Zim! He made you knock your head, you must have gotten amnesia." Dib explained, "Which reminds me, I have to go take care of Zim now, I will help you regain your memory when I get back"  
  
And with that, Dib grabbed his new invention and ran out the door.  
  
"Why would that boy want to take care of the Zim that bumped my head? Oh well.I need Pizza".  
  
Dib hurried down Zim's street. It was already dark so he did have the element of surprise on his side, and his new toy of course.  
  
He made his way up to the house, decreasing in speed with every approaching step. Over the years Dib had learned a perfect path through the gnomes because of their slow reaction speed. He had no trouble working his way up to the door. It was locked for obvious reasons, so Dib decided it was time for a test. He took out a small number pad and punched in D33. A skinny robotic arm reached out of the backpack and used a laser beam to cut around the door's locking mechanisms.  
  
The door then easily slid open allowing the human access into the alien's lair.  
  
"Now for one of the most dangerous tests." Dib whispered to himself while typing in I99.  
  
His figure flickered once, twice, then was gone. Dib pulled out a small mirror and saw exactly what he wanted to see - nothing but the wall behind him.  
  
"Wow!" He said to himself. "The cloaker actually works! Now to get past Zim's little robot minion."  
  
Gir was sitting on the couch eating poop-corn, and didn't even notice when his poop-cola mysteriously tipped over and spilled on the rug.  
  
"Crap!" Dib said to himself, "that stupid mistake almost ended my mission. Thank goodness that robot is so preoccupied with. the Scary Monkey Show? And I thought I was easily amused."  
  
Dib moved into the kitchen, and once there, he deactivated the cloaking device. He then had to figure out a way to get into the lab, sense he was too big to fit down the regular elevator as an 18 year old.  
  
"B24 should do the trick." Dib thought as a large rocket launcher similar to Zim's came out of the backpack and pointed at the floor.  
  
BOOM!!! Dib was thrown backwards, but his rocket had done the trick. A huge hole lay on the ground in front of him. Dib activated his jet pack and flew safely down to Zim's lab.  
  
The noise and vibrations from the blast had shaken Zim from his sleep.  
  
"What the?" He said then looked at a flashing security screen. Dib was seen running to Zim's control room.  
  
" Agh! That stupid stink-human doesn't know when to stop." Said Zim,"I will now go and kill him while he is in my fortress of DOOM!" And with that he ran out grabbing a ray gun on the way.  
  
Dib ran through Zim's lab, taking pictures at a 360 degree angle with his backpack.  
  
"Ha ha!. I am finally going to prove that Zim is an alien!"  
  
"I would just like to see you try, pitiful humane." Zim called from behind Dib. Dib quickly typed in the code for cloak, but his backpack merely sputtered and died.  
  
"oh no! I must have run all it's energy down during the last cloaking process!" Dib cried as he dodged a blast from Zim's ray gun.  
  
"Brainless human, your pitiful excuse for in invader pack disgusts me!" And with that, he blasted it off Dib's back.  
  
" No, my pictures, my invention!" Dib yelled, but he couldn't turn back for it now with Zim shooting at him. Dib zigzagged to throw Zim's aim off, and also searched for some kind of weapon to fight back. Nothing. Dib turned a corner sharply and slid into a cabinet.  
  
"Stupid inertia!" Dib screamed, and slipped on something as he tried to get up.  
  
" Stupid.Hey! What is this? It looks some kind of grappling hook."  
  
A look of hope spread across Dib's face. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling and shot the grappling hook up towards it. His feet lifted off the ground and he soared up, up almost there.  
  
Zim glanced at a security monitor and chuckled.  
  
"I see what you are trying to do and I have a little surprise for you." Said Zim while pushing the FULL SECURITY button.  
  
Dib reached the ceiling of the regular level of the house, and was about to jump down and run out when a swarm of robotic arms reached out of the walls toward him.  
  
He was caught. There were just too many. All exists were blocked as well as all means of hoping for escape. Dib struggled against the arms but they were surprisingly strong. Zim then came up from toilet elevator and instantly started laughing.  
  
"Mwa! Ha!Ha! I introduce you to my security upgrade Dib worm. I hope this answers your question about who the superior race is."  
  
Dib felt the failure. His heart, and he gave up fighting. His backpack with the evidence was in the hand of the enemy, and nobody ever cared about what happened to him.  
  
"Now prepare to taste some DOOM!!!!"Zim yelled lifting his ray gun towards Dib.  
  
"This is the end." Dib thought, closing his eyes in anticipation 


	3. The escape

Chapter 3- by X-KAT  
  
I hope all you readers are liking my story so far. Sorry I haven't updated in a while but school makes me kind of busy. Okay.TIME TO TYPE!  
  
*********** Dib could feel the raygun being pointed at him as he closed his eyes, and his heart was racing a mile a minute.  
  
Zim was enjoying the fear he was seeing in his enemy. He tightened his grip on the gun.  
  
"The tall people thingys say they need to talk to you!" Gir yelled as he came out of the trash.  
  
"Ummm.tall thingys? Oh! The tallest!", Zim shouted excitedly, "I told you Gir, those tall thingys are named the TALLEST." no reponce, "they are our leaders.", still nothing, "they CREATED you."  
  
"Oh yeah.that was them?" Gir responded innocently.  
  
"Ugg!" Zim said and slapped himself in the forehead. "Anyway, I have to respond to their call, I will be back to finish you off shortly." He said glaring at Dib, who was trying to keep his composure.  
  
After Zim went down to his labs, dib moped for a few moments, but was then struck by an idea. He remembered one of the improvements he had made to his glasses a while back.  
  
"Of course! I can use my glasses transmitter to contact Darkbooty of the Swollen Eyeball Network!" Dib said enthusiastically. "If only I could activate it.." He rolled the top right corner of his glasses against one of the mechanical arms that held him to twist the activation lever.  
  
"Got it!" He yelled as a holographic screen projected in front of Dib from his glasses.  
  
"Connect with Darkbooty." He commanded.  
  
"Processing.connecting.contact." Dib's computer responded. Darkbooty flickered onto the screen.  
  
"Mothman, is that you? What have you gotten yourself into this time?"  
  
"Sorry Darkbooty, but I'm trapped by Zim in his house and if I don't get out soon, I'll be six feet under. Could you come over and help?"  
  
"Mmm.I am in the middle of an important experiment right now and I am forbidden to leave until I'm done. So I can't come over."  
  
"Oh great, I'm dead,- you're the only one who would ever help me."  
  
"I said I couldn't come over, not that I couldn't help you", Darkbooty responded cooly. "Now, you said you were at Zim's? Well, if you give me the address I can hack into a satellite monitoring system and zero in on Zim's base."  
  
Dib told Darkbooty what he needed to know until Darkbooty had Zim's house on sight.  
  
"Now here's the tricky part", stated Darkbooty, " I am going to use my own experimental software to upgrade the satellite's capabilities. If this works, the satellite can x-ray in on Zim's base, and tell me all kinds of things about it's functions and layout."  
  
"Hurry Darkbooty, hurry! I think I hear the elevator working!"  
  
"Almost done.there!" Darkbooty exclaimed, "Ah ha.I see the mechanical arms, and they seem to have a weakness."  
  
"What!? Where!?"  
  
"The joint between the actual grabber and arm is surprisingly weak. I bet if you were to twist the "wrist" back and forth it would snap off."  
  
Dib hurriedly tried to twist one arm, which was on his arm, back and forth. Eventually, it broke!  
  
"It works!" Dib said a little too loud.  
  
"What works?" Zim said, aggravation in his voice.  
  
Dib quickly turned off the screen so he could only have audio contact with Darkbooty, and hid the broken arm.  
  
"Um.my brain! I am proud to announce that it is fully functional." Dib said as he heard Darkbooty groan in the background.  
  
"Not for long, puny earth-child." Zim responded, "Not after this raygun fries that ugly gray mass of yours!"  
  
While Zim was saying this, Dib was trying to inconspicuously move the arm on his leg back and forth, but Zim noticed.  
  
"What are you doing?" He demanded.  
  
"Nervous twitch?" Dib said unsure.  
  
"Well, you SHOULD be nervous about what I, ZIM, am about to do to you! Mwa!Ha!Ha! All hail Zim and the fear he installs in his victoms! Mwa!Ha!Ha! Anyway, down to business."  
  
He raised the raygun once again, sure of his victory, tightening the trigger.  
  
Twack! A kick from Dib sent it flying across the room. The mechanical arm he was twisting on his leg broke just in time.  
  
"Oh, oh, I got it!" chirped Gir who had just walked into the room to see what all Zim's laughing was about. "Are we playing monkey in the middle?"  
  
"Ah, yes", said Dib, trying to buy more time, "And Zim is the monkey!"  
  
"Yay!!!" Gir screamed as he kept the gun away from Zim.  
  
"Almost got it." Dib said as he struggled with the last arm. "There! I am free! Yes!"  
  
He started to do a victory dance but Darkbooty got him back on track. "Great job Mothman, now get out of there!"  
  
"Wish I could, but I can't. I need to go back down to Zims' lab to get my backpack with the photographic proof in it. You can lead me through the lab, right?"  
  
"You are just asking to get killed, but if it is really that important to you, I guess I will help you."  
  
"Great! I owe you big time for this, Darkbooty!"  
  
"I know.okay, use that hole in the middle of the floor; I assume it is your work, to jump on to Zim's elevator tube and slide down it like you would a firepole."  
  
Zim turned around just fast enough to see the black trenchcoat dip over and into the hole. He decided to get another weapon from his lab and ran to his elevator to follow Dib.  
  
Dib reached the bottom just as Zim was at the top. He took off running in the directions Darkbooty told him to go.  
  
"Just one more right turn and your backpack should be on some kind of table." Darkbooty instructed.  
  
"Okay," Dib huffed as he rounded the corner and saw his precious invention on an examining table. "Found it!"  
  
Dib was putting it on his back when he heard Zim running behind him. He turned to see Zim coming around the corner with what looked like a larger version of his raygun.  
  
No thought process needed here. Dib took off running across to the other end of the lab and dodged behind a computer mainframe just as an electric pulse wized by his head.  
  
" Okay kid, I see some kind of weapon on top of the mainframe. Try to get it." Darkbooty explained.  
  
It was no trouble- being 6'2" in a base of a 3 foot alien helps.  
  
Zim saw Dib grab the gun, so stopped in his advance and also hid behind a "computer shelter" on the opposite side of his lab.  
  
Laser darts and electronic pulses flew amuck in Zim's base. Profanities were shouted in every way possible. All until a little robot wanted to play.  
  
"Oh, cowboys and Indians!" It squealed, "I love this game! I'll be the goalie."  
  
"Zim! Get your stupid robot out of the way!"  
  
"I'm trying stink-beast! Gir, come here Gir, we are not playing."  
  
Dib didn't have the patience for this; he fired his laser gun at the little android and hit his target. But the expected did not happen, it did not fall or explode, it's eyes just changed color. It's head turned to face Dib, eyes of blazing red;.  
  
"I have acquired your target, master, and will capture it as you desire." Gir said with a lower voice than normal.  
  
Gir took off running towards Dib, and grabbed both his arms from behind. Gir bent them behind Dib, before Dib knew what was going on.  
  
"Good Gir" Zim shouted, while walking towards Dib with his advanced ray gun." Hold him so I can get a good shot."  
  
"No!" Dib yelled, trying to swing Gir off. It was useless.  
  
Zim steadied the gun, took aim, and fired. Dib swung Gir around at exactly the right moment so that Gir took the blow. The robot flew off Dib and landed on the floor.  
  
"Gir!" Zim screamed." Are you okay Gir?!"  
  
The small robot stirred and got up." Camels are yummy!", It screamed and started running in circles.  
  
"Oh well, at least I know you aren't completely useless Gir."Zim sighed. At that, Gir stumbled over to Zim and gave him a gut-wrenching hug.  
  
"Awww! I love you too!" Gir said while tightened his hold.  
  
Dib decided to use this at his advantage and took off running towards the exit.  
  
"No, Gir, no! Let go! He is getting away!"  
  
Darkbooty told Dib where a pair of hoverboots were to be found and Dib made his way out of the house easily with Zim and the house security being disabled.  
  
"Thanks Darkbooty, I wouldn't be alive right now if you hadn't helped." Dib said sincerely.  
  
"You're welcome kid now I 'd better be getting back to that important experiment I brought up earlier. Until next time, Agent Darkbooty signing off."  
  
Dib normally would have asked what the experiment was about, but right now he was too happy to be alive. He breathed in the night air. This night the air meant more that ever. He looked up at the stars and secretly wondered about their infinity. His mind then went to Zim and his backpack. Zim got awful close this time, too close. And his backpack would still need some work. Dib pondered these facts until he made it to his house. Gaz was asleep on the couch, and his Dad still wasn't home. He made his way upstairs to his room and set the backpack on his desk. He would look at it after a short break. His mind just started to nod off when he heard pounding at his door, and a familiar voice accompany it.  
  
"Oh no." Dib said out loud.  
  
Well, There it is: Chapter three. I really hope you are reading and enjoying. Oh yes- A major plot twist coming up soon, so don't drop out on me now! Whoo, I am tired! TIME FOR BED! 


	4. Why can't we all just get along?

Here it is-Chapter 4! :by X-KAT  
  
Gaz had woken up from all the noise Zim was making, and went to open the door as Dib ran with his invention down to his Dad's lab.  
  
"I'm not stopping this time Dib!", yelled a very frustrated Zim, "I'm not giving up until you are dead!"  
  
Gaz opened the door. "What the heck do YOU want, and who ARE you?" She asked.  
  
Zim looked at her oddly, how could she not know who he was after all these years? He dismissed it as human stupidity.  
  
"I am ZIM! I have come to finish the fight between Dib and I once and for all!"  
  
"Who is Dib?" Gaz questioned.  
  
"Don't play dumb, human, you know that will never work." He pushed his way passed her, knocking her into the wall, and proceeded up to Dib's bedroom thinking he was still there. He kicked open the door and peeked inside.no one there.  
  
"The pitiful stink-beast is probably hiding." Zim muttered under his breath. He entered the room and cautiously started looking around, holding his raygun in front of himself all the while.  
  
"Turn around and face me, Zim." Dib sneered from his doorway. Zim spun around and fired instantaneously, but Dib was anticipating that and had turned his backpack's shield on. A blue sphere covered Dib and absorbed the shock. It faded away after it had done it's job.  
  
"I just upgraded its power source," Dib said talking about his backpack. "It should run much longer now."  
  
A small plasma blaster came out of Dib's pack and an eyepiece went over one of Dib's eyes to help him aim. He pointed it at a stunned Zim.  
  
"Say goodbye Zim."  
  
Right before Dib could shoot, Zim did something Dib wasn't anticipating and shot the plasma blaster. After a few shots it broke off and landed on the floor.  
  
"No matter," Dib calmly said, "I have many other weapons in this little wonder of mine."  
  
This reminded Zim of his own invader pack and he raised up on his spider legs just as Dib threw some explode-on-impact ninja stars in his direction. One hit and destroyed one of the spider legs. Zim lost his balance and fell. He then started randomly shooting at Dib with his raygun. Luckily for Zim, one of his shots hit a badly shielded part of Dib's backpack, and it destroyed Dib's battery. Dib's pack lost power once again.  
  
"Ha, your pack is a complete joke of engineering! Mwa! Ha! Ha!"  
  
Dib filled with rage and remembered he had one ninja star left. He threw it at Zim while Zim was laughing at him.  
  
Zim saw it coming, yelled, and shielded his face with his arms.  
  
Boom! The smoke cleared. A slightly charred zim was seen holding a completely disintegrated raygun.  
  
"You disgusting human! We will now finish this with our own brute strength and fighting skills."  
  
"Fine with me you alien scum!" Dib responded through his teeth.  
  
They both took a running start, and collided violently against each other. Zim bit Dib's ear, Dib punched Zim in his squeedily-spooch. Zim jumped up on Dib's bed and was about to launch forward but Dib beat him to it. Dib jumped towards Zim and pushed- right through the window. Both fell amongst shattered glass and landed with a thump on the grass. Both lay Unconsience.  
  
The sun was just starting to rise, putting a faint light on the two enemies, still face down in the grass. A small figure was seen in the sky. It came closer, becoming larger. It moved in zig-zags, combing the ground as it went. It moved over the two immobile lifeforms in the grass. It stopped. A pair a mechanical arms came down from the ship's bellie and pulled up both human and irken. The ship then rose quickly up until it was completely out of Earth's orbit, leaving nothing but two indentations in Dib's backyard.  
  
******************************** There it is! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!!!! Time for plot twist! Are you wondering about the ship thingy? All questions will be asked in the next chapter.yay! I LIKE the next chapter. He, he.Please review! 


	5. Where the hell did these guys come from?

Chapter 5  
  
Okay, here goes nuttin'! .  
  
The beings moved quickly, they wanted to get done with the primary experiments before their subjects woke up. It would be less stressful for them and the subjects that way. The beings had been searching for a human, and what they found alongside the human astounded them. It looked like a short version of the irkans that took over their home planet. If it truly was an irkan, they would have their revenge.  
  
Dib slowly gained consciousness. He realized he couldn't move, due to the metal clasps around his wrists and ankles. When he opened his eyes, he knew he was missing his glasses because everything around him was blurry. He could barely make out the tall blue creatures moving about around him. Dib groaned and shook his head trying to think clearly. The blue creatures saw this and moved towards him. He could see them better now. They had large green eyes like emeralds, which stared at him in awe and curiosity. Dib had a feeling these were the types of peaceful learner aliens he had hoped for before Zim came.  
  
"He-hello.?", Dib said cautiously, "If you can understand me, can I have my glasses back?"  
  
The aliens looked at each other and nodded. One branched off from the group and came back with Dib's glasses. He placed them on Dib's face.  
  
"Thank you." Dib said with more confidence. He looked at the aliens, and saw they all wore the same dark green robes with only slightly different white border patterns. Their skin was a gray-blue color, and smooth in appearance. He looked around at his surroundings. He was in a large plain white room filled with the tall aliens and silver lab equipment. Dib spoke up to break the awkward silence that surrounded him. "Umm, ya, I hate not being able to see clearly.oh, cutting to the chase, can I ask why I'm here?"  
  
One of the blue creatures moved gracefully forward, he had on a purple robe with an elaborate white border pattern. "We are altorons. We seek knowledge. We apologize for the restraints but we didn't know how calm you would be when you regained consienseness."  
  
Dib gave a relieved half smile. "It's all right, I promise that I won't do anything crazy if you get the restraints off. You can zap me with that tazer if I do." Dib said both hopefully and cautiously while glancing at a guard with the tazer.  
  
The altorons knew they had the upper hand, and so unstraped him from the table. Dib sat up and rubbed his head, he had had quite a fall; it was then that Dib noticed Zim on the table next to him. He was still out and had many guards posted around him.  
  
"What do you know of this creature?" The lead altoron asked indicating Zim.  
  
"That's Zim, he is an irkan trying to conquer Earth."  
  
At the word 'irkan' the altorons started to mumble amongst themselves. Dib put a questioning look upon his face.  
  
As if to answer him, the lead altoron said, "We know of the irkan race, they are the people who destroyed our planet and almost put us into extinction. We shall destroy this one to install revenge when he awakes."  
  
It was as if all Dib's prayers had been answered. He could finally learn about some peaceful aliens AND was going to get rid of Zim, all at the same time!  
  
Zim all of a sudden opened his eyes and started screaming, "Ahhhhhhh!!!" He struggled against his restraints in vain.  
  
"What IS this? Let me go! What are you plotting?!" Zim blurted.  
  
The altorons angrily turned towards Zim and their leader started to speak.  
  
"You and your people have taken away our home and families. We here are the only altorons left thanks to the irkan race!"  
  
"Altorons?" Zim questioned, "I thought we destroyed all of you."  
  
"You obviously didn't." snapped back the leader, "Luckily my ship escaped before the cannon-sweep was complete. Since then, we have been searching for a new planet to call our home."  
  
"Have you found one?" Dib asked.  
  
"Yes," answered the leader. " Thanks to this magic that I hold around my neck." Everyone's eyes then went to the fuchsia glowing sphere that dangled on a thin gold chain around the leader's neck. "This sphere holds the knowledge needed for the survival of my people. It holds a magic that tells how the altoron planet is doing. When the irkans destroyed our planet, the sphere's light went out. We have since then, been wondering through the galaxy, and when we passed this planet called earth, the sphere lit up once again. It tells me that earth will be quite compatible once we change the plant life from those that supply oxygen to those that supply carbon dioxide."  
  
"Wait! You can't do that!" Dib yelled, "That would kill all the humans!"  
  
"I'm sorry human, but do not blame us, blame the irkan empire for destroying our planet in the first place."  
  
"Wait a sec." Dib broke in, "You are breathing the same air I am know, which has very little carbon dioxide, why do you need so much carbon dioxide on earth?"  
  
"To reproduce." The leader answered bluntly, "If we don't have enough it just won't work."  
  
"I won't let you do this!" Dib said standing up, "I'm sorry if the irkans did destroy your planet but this planet is rightfully for the human race!"  
  
The altoron leader sighed, "I knew you wouldn't understand. Restrain him."  
  
Four guards tackled Dib and handcuffed his hands behind his back.  
  
"Do the same to the irkan." said the leader with hatred in his voice. "We shall figure out what to do with them later, for now put them both in the holding cell."  
  
The guards handcuffed Zim and led both out of the white room and into a dark metallic hallway. At the end of the hallway they pushed them into a small cell.  
  
Dib whipped around to face Zim after the guards had released their hold.  
  
"It's always YOUR fault isn't it?" Dib said approaching zim, "If my hands weren't behind my back I would strangle you!"  
  
"As long as the humans are destroyed, I will have my victory." Zim responded calmly.  
  
"They are going to KILL you!"  
  
"I know, but as long as your people and especially YOU are killed it will be worth it."  
  
"You know what? This is stupid. Lets find a way out of here instead of bickering like 2 year-olds."  
  
Zim thought about that for a moment, he would like to have the credit for the destruction of the earth himself, so. "For once I must agree will you human," His eyes squinted together in focus, "Lets get out of here."  
  
Okay, there is chapter 5 for ya. I really don't know what else to say except: monkeys make good Prozac! Oh yeah! Anyway, please R&R! 


	6. Gir to the rescue!

Chapter 6! -Yay! Sorry that I haven't updated in a while but school has been taking out a lot of my time, which kind of sucks.anyway, hope you like!  
  
Other then being too dark the cell that held Dib and Zim was not that bad. It was very sterile and had a pullout cot, or whatever the altoron's version of a cot was. Dib paced quickly from wall to wall of the cell while Zim sat on the 'cot'.  
  
"Stop pacing human, you're distracting me from my SUPERIOUR thoughts!" Zim snapped.  
  
"This is how I think best, and what I was thinking about is how to get out of here.-Maybe if we pretend one of us is really sick, we could get the guard to open the door, then."  
  
"No, why would they care if we were sick if they are going to kill us anyway?"  
  
"I guess they wouldn't", Dib responded thoughtfully." What about a fake fight, and we break stuff?"  
  
"I still don't think they would care."  
  
"O-kay.what about your robot?"  
  
"You mean Gir? You know of his capabilities.but we might as well try." Zim said, making a holographic screen come out in front of him. Gir was seen looking under a rock. It then looked up and squealed.  
  
"There you are! I was lookin' for you, were we playin' hide and seek?"  
  
"No Gir, I need you to come to Zim!"  
  
Gir looked under the rock again and giggled at the worm he saw underneath.  
  
"I'll give you a cupcake." Zim cooed, and the robot squeaked into the microphone making Zim's antennea vibrate.  
  
"Ahh! Are you coming or not?!" Zim yelled.  
  
Gir shifted into duty mode, "Yes Sir!", and with that his jets activated and it blasted into the air.  
  
******************  
  
The altoron leader and a few choice followers of his sat around a triangular table, muttering to each other in low voices. They were trying to figure out what to do with their two captives.  
  
One follower spoke up, "We should conduct experiments to see what effect carbon dioxide has on the human."  
  
"No", said another, "I say we deal with the irkan first, maybe execute him in front of his leaders."  
  
The voices around the table got louder, "Silence!" Said the altoron leader, "I say we have a little talk with this human, and maybe learn more about his species in general."  
  
Heads nodded in agreement around the table, and another altoron spoke. "But what about the irkan?"  
  
"I say we find out what he knows, " the leader said solemnly, "by any means possible."  
  
Some gasps were heard, but mostly nods were made.  
  
"Let us do these things as quick as we can, " spoke the leader, "we need a new home."  
  
All altorons smiled at the last comment. -A new home. They stood up and went to carry out their leader's plans.  
  
******************  
  
"No Dib-worm, higher, HIGHER!"  
  
"I'm trying my best, you are balancing very well and that's throwing me off!'  
  
Dib was holding Zim up to a small window that was about 10 feet off the ground. Both had thought they had seen a dart of blue and silver right before the thunk of something hitting the side of the altoron ship. Holding Zim up wouldn't have been so hard usually, but with his hands behind his back, Dib had to stand with his back to the wall while Zim stood on his cupped hands.  
  
"Maybe balancing would be a little easier if I had the use of my arms!" Zim struck back.  
  
"And maybe going higher would be a little easier if I could disconnect my shoulders, but I can't!"  
  
"Pitiful human shoulders.", Zim said under his breath.  
  
"What was that!?" Dib yelled.  
  
"oh nothing, now QUIET! You move too much when you talk."  
  
Suddenly a voice was heard from the shadows outside of the cell. "Hi there!'  
  
Dib saw two blue circles glowing in the shadows and freaked out before thinking.  
  
"Oh my God! What is that1?" Dib yelled as he stepped backward, smashing Zim into the wall and making him fall to the ground.  
  
"You stupid big-headed pork-cow! That is just Gir!"  
  
"oh, um.sorry.but my head is NOT big!"  
  
"Gir! You came.wow!" Zim said halfway stunned, "anyway, you need to get us out of here."  
  
Dib looked at Zim in awe because he had used the word 'us', and not 'me'.  
  
Gir cocked his head at it's master, "How?"  
  
"I don't care, just make a hole or open this door somehow!" Zim shouted.  
  
Gir trotted over to the door and tugged to no avail. "Umm.I can't."  
  
"No Gir", Zim said in the nicest voice he could muster. "You need to find a key, or use a weapon to blow open the door."  
  
"What? You want key lime pie with your tacos?"  
  
Unlike Zim, Dib had picked up several behavioral tips on Gir over the years and decided to finally put them to use.  
  
"Gir, if you go and find a n explody machine as quiet as a squirrel, I will give you 10 tacos when we get back to earth."  
  
"Kay!" Gir said as he snuck off.  
  
Zim just looked at his rival, then at the departing Gir, and shook his head.  
  
Then, from the other end of the hallway, came two altoron soldiers. They were bulkier in stature, wore tight red uniforms, and carried tazers. They both stopped in front of Zim's and Dib's cell and opened the door.  
  
"The human will now follow me." Said one in a low voice.  
  
"And the irkan will come with me." Said the other in an even lower voice.  
  
With a little electronic persuasion, Dib and Zim were led out of their cell and down the hallway. At the end of the hallway they branched down opposite ways. Dib took one last glance over his shoulder to see Zim being roughly pushed down the opposite way. Dib knew that this might be the last time he would ever see his mortal enemy alive, and for some reason, he wasn't happy about it.  
  
****** So, what do you think? If you have any fun plot ideas please tell me! I need inspiration, cause me be not so smartest.- Ha!Ha! Just kidding. Please review, or I will explode! (Seriously!) 


	7. The altoron's plan

Chapter 7.here we go! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I hate typing, and I have been too busy with stuff. Indeed, the "stuff" rules me, and you, you and YOU!!! HAHAHA! Sorry again.I be crazy.  
  
  
  
Dib solemnly marched down the hallway in front of the red suited guard that led him. His thoughts wondered from himself, to Zim, to back home. Did his sister or father even know he was gone yet? His thoughts consumed him so much that he barely noticed when the guard stopped him at a certain door and led him inside.  
  
The voice of the altoron leader finally shook him from his thoughts. "Hello human," he said, "I hope your stay with us hasn't been completely disagreeable."  
  
"My name's Dib." He muttered, "and why do you care if it's disagreeable or not?"  
  
"Okay.Dib.we care because we know what it's like to be greeted and assaulted by a completely different species. It can be quite a shock."  
  
"Then why don't you find another planet!?"  
  
The altoron leader thought, then started to stare at his fuchia sphere in his hand. Finally, he looked up. "Because.we can't. You have no idea how long we have been away from a planet, our home, and how far we have traveled. The chances for finding a suitable planet were a million to one, and your planet is the ONE. If we leave, we won't ever find another planet and most likely, we will die. Don't you understand? It's you or us, and as my people's leader I won't let it be us." He said all of this while twirling the sphere in his hands; the light from it twinkled in his green eyes.  
  
For a moment, Dib truly did understand, but quickly knocked it away. After all, this was still the human's planet by right.  
  
Then, the leader closed his eyes in complete concentration and held the sphere towards Dib. Dib still had his hands behind his back and so couldn't reach out. He surely would have if his hands had been free. After a moment, the sphere went from fuchsia to green and blue. The colors then started to become definite shapes, and the sphere became a perfect little model of the earth. It rose off the leader's hand and hovered. It started to spin, going faster and faster, then it turned red, almost burning Dib's eyes. The spinning slowed, and almost stopped, to show a new planet not of blue and green, but of orange and purple. The altoron leader opened his eyes, looked at the globe, and smiled. The other altoron faces around him also radiated pleasure and nearly teared up at the site.  
  
"This, is our home to be." The altoron leader said while grasping the sphere and making it turn back to fuchsia.  
  
"That's really nice, but you still can't." Dib said, fighting his own emotion.  
  
The leader's face turned stern. "You may want to stop us, but you can't. At this very moment, our scientists and pilots are sending our native plant life down to earth while cloaked. The plants will be invisible, and will soon alter the air so to kill earth's native inhabitants and leave the door open for us to move in. Earth won't know what hit it!"  
  
"No, no, NO! You can't do this, do you know how much life there is on earth? You would be killing thousands and thousands of plant and animal species for one specie; you! That just isn't logical!"  
  
The leader put on a grieving look. He didn't want to.but he had to. It was us or them, he kept telling himself, trying to stop from feeling guilty. He turned away from Dib to face the window, and looked down at the slowly rotating earth.  
  
"I'm sorry Dib, but we can't have you going back to earth and telling the humans of our plan, and we can't have you jumping around the ship either. Our only option is to have you executed with the irkan in two hours. It will be quick and painless. Guards, take him to his cell.":  
  
"Then why did you tell me your plan in the first place!?" Dib yelled as he was pushed out the door.  
  
Zim hurt all over. This species wasn't as weak as he had previously thought. The altoron guards had been trying to get out of him what he knew about earth and the irkan empire. He hadn't said a word, and he was paying the price for it. At least they hadn't broken anything yet, he thought.  
  
Dib was pushed into his cell and immediately tripped over a small metal blockade on the way in.  
  
"Ahh!" He said while landing harshly on the floor, "What the hel-..oh, it's Gir."  
  
Gir had been sleeping on the ground and awoke when the boy flew over its body.  
  
"I been waitin' for you a long time." It squealed, "I couldn't find an explody machine, but I did find this." And Gir pulled out Dib's backpack. "It was feelin' kind a sick, so I made it all better!"  
  
"Gir! This is GREAT! You even recharged the battery! Oh my God, tacos really DO make you work!"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Never mind, let's just get out of here!" Dib halfway yelled as he activated his backpack's laser and cut the cuffs behind his back, then melted a circle in the wall big enough to climb through. Dib took one last look into the cell, took a picture, and jumped through the hole with all intentions in the world to kick some altoron butt!  
  
```````` Okay, how you like? I will try to be motivated enough to put the next one up soon, but its hard to be motivated when you don't get reviews. Hint, hint. 


	8. Dib to the rescue! and gir with a tazer!

Chapter 8-Yay! I am motivated enough to type today, thanks to the wonderful reviews I got! They make me so happy!  
  
`````````` Zim stared up at the wall, trying to weaken the restraints around his wrists, but he had no luck. The altorons had been trying electric shock and pressure points to weaken him, and now they were really getting tired of his silence.  
  
"Talk, you irkan scum! You're only hurting yourself by doing this." A guard said in a harsh, raspy voice. Zim just turned and glared at the altoron with pure hatred gleaming through his squinted red eyes. He may have looked tough, but inside he was getting more and more afraid and squirmy at the thoughts of what they might do to him.  
  
One of his fears was confirmed. One guard came into view holding a thin, wicked looking knife. The guard who had spoken earlier took it and put it right above one of Zim's fingers.  
  
"Okay irkan, either you tell us what you know, or we cut off one finger for every moment of silence."  
  
Zim's eyes widened in horror and he bit his lip in deep thought. 'This can't be happening!' He thought. He knew he had to prove he was true irkan invader material, so he kept quiet. The blade came closer, and closer. The guard started to cut at Zim's flesh.  
  
Thump! A noise was made in the shadows. The guard holding the knife looked up to see what had made the noise only to have his searching eyes meet a fist. This guard's thump then matched the first.  
  
"That's the last one," Dib said while rubbing his hand. He turned to face Zim. "Miss me?"  
  
Zim grumbled under his breath then finally looked up, "Fine, fine, whatever. Now are you going to get me out of this or are you just going to stand there gloating like the incompetent worm-baby you are?"  
  
The smile faded off Dib's face. "Okay, okay.but the only reason I'm helping you is because your robot came through and gave me my backpack."  
  
As if on cue the insane robot toddled in while shocking himself with a guard's tazer he found, laughing all the while.  
  
Dib fiddled with the control panel in the room until one of the buttons he pushed undid the restraints Zim had on. This success, of course, was only after Dib "accidentally" shocked, poured trash on, and vibrated Zim to make Zim more and more angry. Dib was trying to stifle his laughter when Zim got off the table smelly and smoking, rage plastered on his face.  
  
"You miserable creature! If you hadn't have just saved me I would strangle you right now!"  
  
"You're welcome." Dib calmly responded. "Now, we have to find a way off this ship and back to earth. We have to find the altorons who are trying to put their own plant life on earth and destroy man-kind!"  
  
"You say that like it's a bad thing. Why do you think I would EVER care about saving EARTH?"  
  
"Because" Dib said slyly, "YOU want to destroy it, right?"  
  
"Grrrrr.Fine! But I'm only helping you because I have a score to settle with these disgusting altorons." Zim said while kicking one unconcience guard in the gut. "Gir! Stop your foolishness and lets get to the altoron control room. We have some NEW stink beasts to destroy!"  
  
"Yay!!!! Doom!!!!" Gir yelled, flinging the tazer in the air and hitting Dib in the head.  
  
"Hey! Your stupid robot is.REALLY stupid Zim!"  
  
"You're the one who got hit." Zim responded, walking out the door and heading down the dark hallway.  
  
"So.what exactly is your plan when we get to the control room?" dib asked while following Zim down the hall.  
  
"I will tell you my brilliant plan, yes, just to show you my amazing brilliance as ZIM!"  
  
Dib rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah.just go on."  
  
"You and Gir will distract the altorons while I make my way over to the control panel and set all altoron spacecraft on self destruct, including the spacecraft carrying those pesky weeds of theirs."  
  
"Why do Gir and I have to distract them?"  
  
"Because, Gir is naturally distracting, as I should know, and you have your backpack to defend yourself. Mine is still disabled thanks to you!"  
  
"Whatever, lets just hurry because I don't want those ships to get to close to earth when they blow up."  
  
Zim smiled at the thought, and decided to take his time.  
  
Dib looked back at Zim and mumbled, "I hate you."  
  
```````` Whoo-hoo! That's Chapter 8 for yous guys. Review if you like and want more! 


	9. A new friend

Chapter 9- Oh yeah, I don't have anything to say but. Fritos make your lips numb. Thank you for reading my pathetic attempt of a story.  
  
``````````` "Yeah, I think this is the control room." Dib said while peeking into a small window on the door they thought would lead to the control room.  
  
"Good" Zim responded, "You know what to do. Gir! Go with the Dib-human."  
  
"O-key Do-key!" It squealed back.  
  
Dib proceeded to silently open the door and slide along one side of the room while Zim slid along the other. Halfway to the front of the control room, Dib picked up Gir and chucked him at the large window. The GIR unit landed on the control panel, got up, and started to dance on various controls. All altoron eyes went to the insane robot.  
  
"What IS that thing?!"  
  
"Get it off the controls!"  
  
"No, little robot, don't touch THAT!"  
  
When the altorons were put into a frenzy, Zim made his way up to the opposite side of the room's front. He then started to hack into the altoron's systems.  
  
Dib didn't have to do anything. He could barely keep in the laughter he was about to express because of Gir's antics.  
  
"No wonder Zim keeps this thing around." Dib said to himself. ``````````````` The altoron leader was discussing some landing processes with a few pilots when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the security monitors. In the control room, all his altorons were on one side of the room, and on the other.was the irkan.  
  
"Fools! Oh, please excuse me." And with that he swiftly strode out of the room, his purple robe billowing out behind him.  
  
```````````````  
  
"If only I had paid more attention in the computer course of invader training camp." Zim thought to himself. "They seem to set everything up backwards from us superior irkans. Their organization skills almost remind me of.the humans! Hmm.Dib might be able to do this since his inferior race is so similar to the altoron beasts."  
  
"Dib! I.I need you to do this." Zim yelled to Dib over the clamber of the altorons.  
  
"What?! Oh, um.okay." Dib said, stunned by the irkan's statement. He ran over and immediately started figuring out the layout of the altoron system. He began to talk out loud to himself.  
  
"If this symbol means what I think it means, then, yes!" Dib pressed the symbol and a big red list of words appeared on the screen.  
  
"I think this is it." Dib said, and just as he was about to push it, the door swung open and the altoron leader came in leading three guards.  
  
"Seize them, and somebody PLEASE stop that robot!"  
  
Two guards quickly yanked Dib and Zim away from the computer controls while the other guard went over to Gir and shoved it in a metal box.  
  
"How DARE you treat irkan technology with such insolence! You should be-" But Zim was cut short by a fast jab with a tazer.  
  
The leader looked at the irkan fighting and cursing at the guard holding him, and the human who just stood there looking very dismayed at Zim and then looked up at the leader. Dib held a questioning look on his face. 'Probably thinking about what fate I am going to deliver to him.' The altoron leader thought.  
  
"So. what are you going to do to us?" Dib said, a small hint of fear showing in his voice.  
  
The altoron leader stood there, thinking. He truly did not know, but he wasn't about to tell the human that. He wasn't prepared for this. He was willing to kill from afar, but to sentence someone to death and kill them right there.He just didn't know what to do.  
  
Dib's eyes darted nervously from the altoron leader to the still fighting Zim.  
  
"Zim, calm down! Jees, you're not going to get anywhere doing that."  
  
Zim growled something under his breath, but he knew the stink-beast was right. He calmed down, and looked intently at the leader. The leader sighed and started to speak.  
  
"You should not have tried something so foolish as this, you know what we have to do now." He turned to the guards. "Initiate procedure 12-20. "And with that , he turned and left the room.  
  
"I don't think I am going to like procedure 12-20." Dib said nervously.  
  
The guards pushed them out of the control room and after a short walk, pushed them into a sort of lab room. Two scientists were seen doing some experiments with an orange plant-like thing. They looked up from their work when the four came in. The guards walked over to the scientists and whispered something to them before leaving the room and shutting the door to stand guard from outside. The scientists then nodded grimly to each other and walked over to Zim and Dib who were strapped to tables.of DOOM! (A/N: sorry, I couldn't resist!) One scientist went over to a shelf and pulled down two needles and a red vile. He started to fill each needle with a purple fluid and walked over to the wide eyed victims. He gave one of the needles to the other scientist who stood over Dib.  
  
"I think this is it Zim, who would have thought we would die at the same time at somebody else's hands." Dib said while watching the scientist roll his sleeve arm up.  
  
"I must agree human, I much rather would have the pleasure of killing you myself."  
  
Dib would have given Zim an evil glare, but at the time his attention was occupied by the incoming needle towards his bare arm, and the odd expression the scientist was making.  
  
All of a sudden, the scientist swung around and stabbed his fellow scientist before that scientist injected Zim. The scientist with the needle in his arm made a few convulsions, then quickly crumpled to the floor and promptly died.  
  
The scientist who had save them proceeded to unstrap the two from the tables.  
  
"You need to get out of here!" He said, escorting them to a hidden door in the back of the room. "This is an evacuation tube, it will take you to the escape pods."  
  
Just then, the metal box across the room started the squeal and jolt around. The scientist jumped back, quite alarmed.  
  
"What,- what was THAT!?" He cried.  
  
Zim slapped himself in the head. "Oh course, I almost forgot Gir!" He then ran over to the box and carried it back, not bothering to open it.  
  
"Um.okay. Now you must hurry, the guards might come in at any moment!"  
  
Dib just had to know, "Why did you help us, I mean you killed another altoron for us.why?"  
  
"Because I don't believe that what my people is doing is right. This is your planet, and I am amazed by the diverse quantity of life on it. They all don't deserve to die just for a few of one specie. Maybe we just weren't meant to be." The scientist concluded sadly, while nearly pushing the two into the evacuation tube. Dib managed to get out a nearly silent "Thank you." Before he slipped down the tube after Zim.  
  
````````````` Me am done with chapter nine. Whoo-hoo! That is great. Well, until next time; this is X-KAT signing off. 


	10. One way to solve weed problems

Chapter 10 : Sorry for the wait, but I have been kind of busy, and my ankle got sprained and it's all gross and swollen and I should stop whining now. Sorry, I can't help it! `````````````  
  
The tube was narrow, circular, and surprisingly slick, so Zim and Dib just slid their way down to the escape pod room.  
  
"Wait! We still have to get rid of the altorons or earth will be destroyed!" Dib reminded Zim as they headed for an escape pod.  
  
"Mmm.I don't think we have to destroy them, there may be another way." Zim answered.  
  
"What! How?"  
  
"Like you told me when we were going to the control room, the way they are going to destroy life on earth is to put their oxygen consuming plants on earth, right?"  
  
Yeah, that's what I said but."  
  
"If we succeed in killing all their plants, the plants will be extinct, and the altorons will have no way of converting the earth's atmosphere."  
  
"Okay, but how do we kill all the plants?" Dib questioned.  
  
"I'll contact our scientist friend to see if he has any bright although FILTHY ideas." Zim said, and before Dib could say anymore, Zim went over to a computer console and typed in some symbols, the same symbols that were on the door of the scientist's room.  
  
"Oh, I get it." Dib mumbled.  
  
"I wouldn't expect such a primitive being such as yourself to figure it out."  
  
Dib grumbled some inaudible curses under his breath. Zim chuckled.  
  
"Pazlude reporting, science wing." Said a voice from the computer.  
  
"Sounds like him." Dib said, and Zim nodded.  
  
"Pazlude, we need your help again." Zim said.  
  
"About wha-wait! Is this the irkan and human?"  
  
"Yes, can you help us?" Dib answered.  
  
"Please speak quietly, the guards are searching the room for evidence. They think you killed my co liege and I thought you would be gone by now."  
  
"Listen," Zim yelled as softly as he could, "We need to stop your kind from destroying life on earth. Do you know where all the plants that they are going to use are?"  
  
"I have one here in the lab, the rest should be in the orangehouse, or.on the ships sending them to earth."  
  
"Zim, this is hopeless- there are just too many!" Dib whined from behind.  
  
"Silence Dib-beast! Altoron, unless you want us to just blow up this whole ship, you need to help us destroy those plants!"  
  
"Okay, meet me in the orangehouse, it's a floor beneath where you-" But Pazlude was then cut off by guards who had spotted Zim and Dib and were swarming in their direction.  
  
"We can't get out, unless we use an escape pod!" Zim yelled while running towards one. Dib ran after Zim while ducking gunfire. They made it into the pod and Zim immediately started the launch sequence.  
  
"How did you know how to do that!?" Dib asked.  
  
"Universal escape pod law- so that all species may be able to escape from any given ship."  
  
"Nifty."  
  
The pod made a slight jerk then- woosh! It soared out the side of the ship and into the spaciousness of. space.  
  
"Dib! Look for anything am. orangehousey looking!"  
  
Dib looked out the window while Zim accessed some very limited control mechanisms. Dib scanned the ship until he saw a window in the side of the great altoron ship which held many shades and sizes of orange plants.  
  
"There!"  
  
"Good, hold on." Zim said as he headed straight towards the orangehouse.  
  
"Lets see how these plants react to the vacuum of space." Zim said while smiling maliciously.  
  
"Zim." Dib said nervously, "are you SURE this is the best way to approach the problem. I mean, we won't DIE or anything, will we?"  
  
"Of course not, filthy earth creature, these pods are made for hard impacts."  
  
Before another word could be said, the pod crashed through the window pane and landed amongst orange foliage which was starting to be pulled out through the hole the pod made.  
  
"Now to wait." Zim said calmly while pressing a button which made hooks come out of the pod to anchor it to the ground. Dib could just watch in amazement as he saw the plants being uprooted from the ground, and instantly freezing as they went into space.  
  
"Who ever would have thought that ORANGE could look so cool?" Dib said.  
  
"Get ready for action human, of be left behind." Zim said while pulling Gir out of the metal container that held it and climbing on Gir's back.  
  
"What do I do?" Dib asked nervously.  
  
"Get on, and hold on tight. If I know one thing, which I don't- I know MANY things, it is that Gir doesn't provide a smooth ride."  
  
None more was said. Since Dib was too large to fit on Gir's back he could just hold onto Gir's legs and hope for the best. The pod door opened, and a tremendous amount of pull and wind met the three. The lack of pressure made Dib's head feel like it was going to explode. After a promise of MORE tacos, Gir took off with his jets on full power towards the door. Upon reaching it, Gir opened it and flew inside. Closing it was the problem. All three pulled it inward with all their might, with only minimal results. Then, two extra hands appeared and pulled at the door, and it finally closed. All four bodies flew backwards and sunk to the floor in relief. After a moment to regain their thoughts, Zim and Dib spun around to see who it was who had helped them close the door. It was Pazlude.  
  
"It seems that you are already a step ahead of me." Pazlude remarked.  
  
"But of course, it is not odd at all for a superior irkan inva-" Zim started to boast, but was cut off by Dib who had placed his hand over Zim's mouth.  
  
"Ignore him, and I think what he means to say id thank you." Dib said, releasing Zim who automatically started to wipe his "tainted mouth" with his sleeve.  
  
"Now we must hurry" The altoron known as Pazlude whispered. "Our leader has posted a red alert and locked down all self destruct systems. We have to go to each cloaked ship separately and blow them up manually."  
  
"You know what? I think I just decided that I hate my life." Dib said mournfully. And the odd four all headed for the docking bay, with Gir following behind yelling random things about clowns with no heads. ````````````` Okay, there we go for now. I will try to type more soon. Please review so that I know my troubles are not all for nothing. 


	11. Traitor!

Chapter 11: Ya know, this story is probably the longest thing I have ever written on any given subject.CRAZY! I hope you readers like it so far, and I can tell you I have only 3 more chapters to write before this story is done. Yipee! -X-KAT  
  
`````````````  
  
The altoron guards all knew the plan: the scientist would lead the targets in, and when their leader gave the word, they would shoot. Nothing could be more simple. ``````` Dib followed behind Zim and Pazlude, watching Pazlude's facial expressions closely. Something wasn't right about Pazlude now; he had a look in his eye that wasn't there when he had helped them before. The look was distressed and yet.kind of evil. Dib noticed this and tried to find an explanation for the change while walking. None of his thoughts were bright. ```````` The guards glanced intently from the door where their targets would enter, to their leader who was fussing with his fuchsia sphere again. He had his eyes closed and was holding the sphere with two hands. It seemed to be vibrating in a pattern. It was like Morse code. It was like another language. The leader nodded at the last vibration, and the guards wondered what it was telling their leader now. Oh well, they thought, no time to focus on that. The guards had a job to do, and it would initiate in a few moments when the doors fly open. ``````````` The odd group of four was almost to the doors of the docking bay area. Dib's funny feeling about Pazlude was at it's prime right now, and he couldn't ignore it any longer. He stopped.  
  
"Wait." Dib said in a bold voice.  
  
Zim was the only one to comply. "Why?"  
  
"I don't have a good feeling as to where we are going, Zim. I don't think we should trust Pazlude."  
  
"Why? You better have a good reason for this disruption, human." Zim scolded, "Where else should we go?"  
  
"I.I don't know, but I know we shouldn't follow HIM anymore."  
  
At the mention of 'HIM', Pazlude turned swiftly around and started to walk back.  
  
"Let's try to go another way, okay?" Dib asked.  
  
"This is your only option!" Pazlude said with obvious stress in his voice.  
  
"See." Dib whispered to Zim. Zim noticed, and decided to lay it straight out.  
  
"The stink-Dib and I don't need your assistance any longer. We will find our own method from now on." And upon those words Dib and Zim spun promptly around and walked the other way, Gir screaming after them from behind.  
  
"No, wait, you can't!" Pazlude said glancing back and fourth from Dib, Gir and Zim, to the other direction where the door was. They kept walking. Pazlude lost it.  
  
"You are coming with me DEAD or ALIVE!" He yelled, while pulling out a small gun. At the words 'dead or alive', Dib and Zim looked behind to see the gun pointed at them, and they instinctively split apart and dove out of the way of the anticipated shot. Gir just stood there and giggled. Now it was survival. Zim and Dib ran down different passage ways, leaving Pazlude to decide who to go after. He chose the irkan; he would get more money for killing him.  
  
Zim sprinted down the hall, making as many turns as possible. Oh how much easier it would be if his invader pack hadn't been disabled. He heard Gir's giggles as it ran close behind him. 'Gir must think this is a game', Zim thought. Perhaps in a way the little robot was right. Zim knew that if he didn't start pulling some wonderful ideas out of his head soon, he would lose. 


	12. Good Gir

Chapter 12: I am motivated enough to type today! Only one more chapter to go after this one. Sort of a bittersweet thing, actually.-X-KAT  
  
```````` Zim could hear the tall altoron running behind him, cursing in his native tongue as he ran. Zim glanced at Gir who was gleefully running beside him, and he got an idea. A wonderfully AMAZING idea.from ZIM!  
  
"Gir!" Zim yelled, "I need you to take me to Dib as fast as you can, NOW!"  
  
"O-key Do-key!" It squealed, while pushing himself under Zim and blasting off with his back jets.directly toward the angry killer Pazlude.  
  
'This irkan is crazy' Pazlude thought to himself, steadying the gun and taking aim. But the robot was faster then he expected and flew right past him before he could get a good shot.  
  
"Pathetically slow creature, how could this species be so tall and so dumb at the same time?" Zim said out loud to himself before Gir took him quickly around the corner. The last thing Zim saw was Pazlude throwing his gun to the ground and yelling loudly.  
  
"Alright Gir, find the Dib human." Zim said, now much more confident then before. ````````````` Dib had stopped running once he noticed that Pazlude wasn't chasing him, but he still kept a very weary eye on his surroundings.  
  
"I hope Zim didn't get himself killed." Dib muttered, then added after he realized what he had said; "Because I need that robot of his to get out of here."  
  
He moved on, glancing nervously from side to side. Then he heard something. This was not good, what could it be?! He started to get frantic once he heard it coming closer.  
  
"Aghh! Where to hide?! Where to hide!!"  
  
Dib simply chose to get into a hunched position on the floor. The noise was loud now. He looked at the hallway where he was sure it would come from at any moment. He closed his eyes, awaiting his doom. WOOSH! He felt something grab his trenchcoat and a weightlessness under his feet. He opened his eyes. He was flying through the air! Then he looked up at the thing holding him.  
  
"Zim!?" Dib blurted in an utter stupor.  
  
"Of course, stinking human. We have to get off this filthy ship, don't we?"  
  
"Well duh." Dib said, still hanging from Gir who was apparently heading for a wall. "But how?"  
  
"You still have that inferior shield thingy on your backpack, don't you?"  
  
"Yes." Dib said He had nearly forgotten all about his high tech backpack. Now he was getting worried about the quickly approaching wall.  
  
"Well, turn it on, NOW!" Zim commanded.  
  
See that this was no time to argue, Dib complied right before Gir hit the wall. They went through the strange metal of the wall, with a transparent blue shield around all of them. They were in space.  
  
"Oh my God!" Dib yelled, unable to say anything more.  
  
"The almighty Zim always has a plan, and a truly brilliant one at that. Gir will soon take us to earth and I can complete my mission off overtaking it."  
  
"One problem." Dib said, "You would have no reason to take it over if the altorons have already killed everything on it and taken it over themselves. We need to deal with the small ships that are taking the plants to earth right now while cloaked. What do we do?"  
  
"Simple, stupid earth larvae. All you have to do is blast them with your backpack's laser. Dib, I would have thought you could at least have figured THAT out!"  
  
"Hmph." Dib responded while activating his heat detecting eyepiece and laser gun from his pack.  
  
"Lucky my shield is one way, only blocking the outside environment, not the out side environment from us, or my laser beam would ricochet back and kill me."  
  
Zim smiled at the thought. Dib saw him.  
  
"I saw that! It's not funny, because without me, the shield would give out and you would die to!" Dib yelled, then went to his work of locating the ships and blowing them up. He blasted a few that were near him, then told Gir to start going around the earth to get all of them. One by one, all the ships with their plants of doom were destroyed. But somehow, Dib felt this was all too easy. They approached the last ship, Dib readied his aim. Then the unthinkable happened; the ship's tractor beam started pulling them in, and Dib's laser ran out of energy(again). Dib then knew that his feeling had been right.- It had been too easy, but that was about to change. 


	13. The finale

Chapter 13- last chapter!  
  
  
  
The invisible ship kept pulling them in. The tractor beam was locked securely on the small blue shielded ball that held the three captives. Zim gave Dib a glare for their predicament.  
  
"I'm sorry!" Dib recoiled "But if I blasted the ship then the shield would give out, and we would all die!"  
  
"You and your insufficient equipment, Dib-monkey!" Zim started to yell, but his insults were cut short when the ball reached the inside of the small cargo ship. They were surrounded by orange plants, and each plant was labeled of it's destination.  
  
"Oh my God, look! Egypt, Poland, Canada. each plant is for a different country!" Dib observed.  
  
"We destroy the rest of them now!" Zim commanded  
  
"I think not, small irkan." A deep voice said coming from a path in between the plants in front of them. "Your murderous rampage ends NOW!" The altoron speaking came into view. He wore a tight black leather robe, with an eye patch over one eye.  
  
"Who are you?" Both Zim and Dib asked at the same time.  
  
Gir thought it knew. "It's the ice cream man!" It said, while running towards the black clad altoron. The altoron quickly took out a small gun and blasted Gir's head off. This of course didn't bother Gir at all and it still kept running around, giggling(somehow). The only difference now was that Gir didn't know where it was going, and repeatedly bashed into the same two plants.  
  
"I am the captain of this ship, and it is now my sole duty to transport this plant life to earth and save my race. You three will NOT get in my way."  
  
So with that the altoron captain lifted his gun and aimed at Zim and dib. They both started to get out of the way but Dib was too slow, and his shoulder was hit. The captain gave a slight smile at the sound of Dib's scream of pain, but soon directed himself on the task of killing Zim.  
  
Zim ran through the orange plants, and almost turned back when he heard Dib. 'No time' he thought. Zim had more of a plan then he knew, so he didn't look back, just ran. Then a shot was heard, accompanied by a plant just in front of him getting fried. Zim knew better then to stop now. He made his way to a ladder, and took it up to the next floor. He could hear the captain's footsteps following after him. There was no cover up here, only controls and a large window showing the approaching earth. Zim ran over to the controls and an idea ran through his head. He turned to the face the oncoming danger.  
  
"You will be stopped now, and I will become a hero to my people because of your death." The altoron captain said while aim ing his gun and smirking.  
  
The sound of the shot came and went. Zim lay still on the floor. The altoron chuckled and walked over to his victim. He was about to shoot Zim again for good measure when his ship gave an unexpected lurch and turned around.  
  
"What the-" The captain said as he looked at his controls, which were now sparking and smoking, then at Zim who was getting off the ground and wiping the dust off his uniform.  
  
"Stupid altoron." Zim taunted "You should know that all irkan invaders have excellent reflex speed, and I merely dodged your inferior energy blast, so it hit your controls instead."  
  
"Argh! You won't get away that easily!" The captain yelled and shot more energy blasts in a fit of pure rage. Of course, when in a fit of pure rage one doesn't pay much attention to aim, so he ended up missing every shot and damaging his control panel even further. The ship's computer then said, "Target locked, ramming speed initiated."  
  
The ship buckled forward and headed straight towards it's mother ship.  
  
"No!" The captain yelled "The controls are ruined, I-I can't turn it off!"  
  
"That would be your problem. So long puny doomed altoron." Zim said while jumping back down the ladder and running back to Gir and Dib. Zim pushed the orange foliage out of the way and found a near unconscious Dib laying on the floor bleeding profusely, and Gir still running into the same two plants without it's head. Their fates were in Zim's hands, and he had to think fast.  
  
"Escape pod!" Zim thought outloud, while going to the back of the ship and finding a single pod. He sprinted over to Gir and threw the little robot in, then went back to get Dib. The problem was that dib was much bigger then him and was too heavy to carry.  
  
"Dib, come on! You have to get up!" Zim yelled directly into the boy's ear. Dib nodded weakly. His loss of blood was making it hard to do anything. He wobbled up, and with the support of Zim's shoulder, he made his way to the escape pod. Zim pushed Dib in, and looked up to see the captain furiously trying to get back control before his ship collided with the main altoron ship. It was almost sad.almost. Zim shook his head and shut the hatch, then lunched the pod toward earth.  
  
````````(One Week Later)````````  
  
Dib stared up at the stars. They were so beautiful.  
  
The night air was getting chilly on his roof, so he pulled his trench coat tight around him. Dib remembered seeing the most brilliant explosion before blanking out completely on the escape pod. Other then that, Dib didn't remember much about that portion of his adventure. No matter though, because zim made it his duty to fill him in constantly on how he had saved the day with his pure ingeniousness. Dib had believed most of it, except for the part where Zim had to single handedly fight off ten galactic ninjas while running from the captain. Dib sighed and closed his eyes.  
  
"Dib!" Gaz yelled from the yard, "Get off your butt and go to the store. We need pizzas and sodas!"  
  
Dib didn't know if he was happy Gaz was back to normal or not. Her memory loss went away after he got back. Dib new that Zim slamming the door into her head had something to do with it.  
  
Dib opened his eyes.-She was glaring at him.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm going." Dib said sitting up, but sitting up wasn't as easy as it usually was. Dib had a tight cast and sling around his upper arm and shoulder, and he could hardly move it.  
  
Gaz left to go inside, and Dib jumped off the roof. He was opening the door when something bright caught his eye. Dib turned around and squinted at the buch that had held the light. Nothing. He ventured toward the bush, and halfway to it a wind shifted the branches and solidified Dib's fear. Caught in the bush, was a small fuchsia sphere, that seemed to pulse along with the quickened pace of Dib's heart.  
  
Dib tried to pick the sphere up, but it burned his hand when he tried. The light reflected in his glasses as he thought a bit.  
  
"I think Zim needs to see this." Dib said aloud, running toward Zim's house forgetting all about going to the store. Gaz glanced up from her game to see him trying to run, and gave a long deep sigh. -THE END  
  
Well, That's it. I really hope you liked it. Maybe I will do another story if I get enough reviews. See ya peoples! 


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